A Life Worth Living

It’s Tuesday morning, the day after Christmas. There seems to be a lull in the rhythm of the day. The kids are not buzzing around in excitement; there’s no blaring Christmas music, and there’s no feast. We sit around the table for our regular breakfast, the palpable excitement gone. My husband Ben asks our boys, “Are y’all sad Christmas is over?” “Yes!” comes the reply. “And does everything feel less exciting?” “Yes!!” they respond emphatically.

The boys were not the only ones feeling this way. The adults were too. As we proceeded to read Luke 2:52 (ESV): “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man,” Ben pointed out just how ordinary those days must’ve felt. There were no angels following Mary and Joseph around; there was no halo on Jesus, and He did not suddenly become a grown man. After the miraculous birth and announcement, life largely went back to normal. Mary and Joseph ‘returned to Galilee … and the child grew …’ (Luke 2:39-40)

We finished our devotion time with this thought: those ordinary days of Jesus’ life were just as much God’s plan for Him as the extraordinary. For it is in the ordinary that He grew and increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Friend, as the year ends and another begins, as you get ready for the holiday season to be over, as you return to normalcy and routine, as you dread going back to the rigor and busyness of life, may this thought be an encouragement to you. The ordinary days are just as much a part of God’s plan for your life as the extraordinary. So, in the ordinary let us pursue wisdom and virtue.